Donegal TD Deputy Pearse Doherty TD has said that the government can intervene to cut energy costs and the time to do so is now.
The Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance was speaking as his party announced it will bring forward a motion on the issue this week, which will be debated in the Dáil today.
Teachta Doherty said, “The government can and must intervene to cut energy costs and the time to do that is now.
“Households continue to pay sky-high energy bills – with electricity and gas bills more than double what they were two years ago.
“The government made a conscious decision last month not to provide any meaningful support for households with their energy costs until October.
“This was wrong. According to the CSO, households consume as much if not more electricity in the months of April, May and June as they do in October, November and December.
“Yet they will receive no support with these sky-high bills at a time when Saint Vincent de Paul reports that numbers unable to heat their homes more than doubled in 2022.
“It is reprehensible that energy companies are refusing to pass on significant savings made from wholesale electricity price reductions on to households.
“As workers and families continue to suffer, the government facilitated these massive profits with Minister Paschal Donohoe opposing windfall taxes and Minister Eamon Ryan opposing reform of the wholesale electricity market for months.
“They also made a decision not to reduce and cap electricity prices, despite governments all across Europe – in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere – doing just that.
“This is a sensible measure, adopted across Europe, which Sinn Féin called for in September.
“The government can and must act to cut energy costs now.”
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